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Topic: Relationship Between Socioeconomic Status Citizens in Georgia and Public

Education System.

Introduction

Despite the rhetoric of equality in American public schools, there is an experience

whereby African-American or other minority students in the US continue to be unequal and

separated. Several Americans have realized that our education system is among the most unequal

in the developed world; students receive different learning opportunities based on their

socioeconomic status (SES). SES is a concept that summarizes a person's social position in

society. Several conceptualizations of SES are used, such as occupation, a materialistic measure

of income, class differences, and gradient measure of relative status. Minority and poor students

are mostly concentrated in least-funded schools, where most of them are in rural areas and

funded at levels below neighbor suburban districts. The discussion of this paper is investigating

problems caused by the relationship between social, economic status (SES) of low-income

citizens, particularly in Georgia and these citizens' local public systems, in order to come up with

ways of improving the public education system in Georgia so that it will serve all communities

equally.
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Method

In conducting the research to determine effects of social economic status on educational

equality we carried out a survey in all public schools in Georgia. The schools under selection

were both in urban and rural areas. In determination of inequality and discrimination in schools

we ensured that sampled schools have students from different ethnic groups, and different social

classes.

Literature Review

SES in students is measured typically by using the information on family income,

parental education, or occupation or combining both factors. There is no method of measuring,

but however, some are applicable commonly than others. For instance, Wiers et al. 2016 p28-29

recommend using the Hollingshead index, devised in the 1940s. This index is a four-factor

comprising education, marital status and sex. Family income may be used in research. Those

factors would dramatically shift from time to time and depend on their status of employment.

Therefore, low-income parents' social, economic aspects affect the quality of education received

by their children.

Poor quality of education for low-income citizens’ students is contributed by the

inequality of the educational system in Georgia. They lead to a higher concentration of minority

students in minority educational facilities Cruces et al. 2014 p325-330. Almost sixty-six percent

of minority and low-class students attend minority schools. The system of inequitable school

financing is one of the problems contributing causing inequality in the educational sector,

inflicting disproportionate harm on economically disadvantaged and minority students. These

students are concentrated in some parts of Georgia which have lower capacities of financing
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public education. Some districts with wider disparities in education expenditure are big in

industrial regions of the state. In these districts, most economically disadvantaged and minorities

are in poor urban districts with worse education expenditures (Coady et al. 2018 p2750). In other

parts, financially underprivileged students, black or white, are majorly in rural areas suffering

from fiscal inequality.

Not only tax policies and funding systems do leave some districts with fewer resources

than their neighbors, but institutions with a majority of minority students would receive fewer

allocated resources than others. The tracking system exacerbates inequality by separating most

minority students in schools and gives few yet few education opportunities at the classroom level

(Coady et al. 2018 p2751-54).

Another critical problem faced in schools is that minority schools, due to a shortage of

funds, cannot compete for qualified teachers. When these schools don't find qualified teachers,

they will assign the least students with less political clout. Research shows that SES gaps majorly

cause inequity distribution of well-qualified teachers. Studies show that the effectiveness of

different teachers is a determinant of differences in the learning of students and overweighs by

far other effects in size of the class and heterogeneity Cruces et al. 2014 p325-330. Low-class

students assigned to ineffective teachers would definitely have low achievement gains compared

to those set effective teachers.

Another problem faced by public schools in Georgia due to lower social-economic status

is the small sizes of classrooms. Most areas with a majority of low-income citizens are not

sufficiently financed. Studies showed that in the midst of the pandemic, most schools in Georgia

got fun cuts; therefore, they had to lift limits for class size so that they could afford to keep. Due

to the tightening of financing, the number of classrooms was typically affected (Posick et al.
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2020). Additionally, poverty is another problem faced by education due to the SES of low-

income citizens in Georgia; due to poverty in some parts of Georgia, there is a high rate of

dropouts in the state. In addition, students from low-income families perform poorly in school.

Family factors are another problem that faces schools due to low-income levels and SES;

for instance, most children would reflect the same in schools in a poverty-stricken society. What

goes on at home normally affects the propensity of students to learn (Posick et al. 2020 p685).

Poverty, divorce and other problems are challenges that students bring to school daily.

Though Georgia experiences economic progress, inequality poverty is still a challenge.

Reforms in the public sector open the state to global finance and international trade, easing the

development of businesses and establishing market-oriented economies (Posadas et al., 2018).

Economic growth in Georgia strongly differs geographically. Mountainous and remote areas

have high rates of poverty than urban. In regions like Tbilisi, more than half of the people are

below the poverty line, which is a problem in Georgia since more than half of its population is

poor (Posadas et al., 2018). Inequality in Georgia extends to education access and results. Most

students in rural have little access to quality education and perform poorly in assessments

compared to those in urban areas.

Additionally, Georgia faces rapid population shrink due to lower rates of fertility and

higher rates of migration. Out-migrating is not distributed equally throughout the state and rural

to urban migration also increases Cristea et al. 2019 p40-43. This population change brings

challenges in sectors of education. Those schools serving rural areas would have few students;

due to these reasons, the government would not transfer teachers from these regions due to

politics. Due to these reasons, schools are less funded.

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Discussion

From the schools’ samples, students face several different issues on the grounds of social

economic status, ethnicity amongst other difference. Therefore, there is urgency to solve this

matter to ensure equality in Georgian educational system. Systematic problems of funding would

drive inequality in education and having detrimental impacts on mainly low-income students.

Hence, these students would receive low educational quality, reflected in less qualified teachers,

good books, and special support such as disabilities and counselors' services. Lack of

accessibility to quality and fair education would create a broad wealth and income gap in

Georgia; brown and black students facing more hurdle to college and would be several times

more likely to experiencing poverty. Inequality in income worsens an opportunity to build wealth

for brown and black families due to difficulty in asset and homeownership. Public education can

function in equity and equality depending on citizens and demanding that the government

invents funds in schools in low-income districts. Progressive practices of funding would lead to

greater opportunities for students of low income.

Georgian education faces several challenges contributed by inequality and the low

income of citizens in some regions within the state. Therefore, there is a need to solve these

problems to ensure equal education for all citizens in the state. One way to solve these issues is

to develop a new initiative, a new school model, to develop current learning environments and

steer educational reforms. There is a need for the ministry of education to reintroduce this model

(Cristea et al. 2019 p46-47). This would establish a schooling vision advocating for modern

methods aiming to develop students. This model would encourage educators to use pedagogical

procedures to teach students to think, be creative, and critically solve problems. To attain these
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visions, the ministry should identify people with expert data and technologies for

communication, curriculum and leadership of schools.

Another way to solve problems faced in schools in Georgia is curriculum reforms

focusing on developing students' competencies and towards assessment and stage-base

instructions. Like it has previously done Georgia need to reintroduce curriculum that came up

with desired learning results and distributing of instructional hours of grades and subjects. These

reforms would introduce a stage-base technique, in which learning results of students will be

organizing on stages of learning, but not grades. These changes give teachers great flexibility to

adapt instructions to distinctive students' learning levels and raise questions on if teachers are

well prepared to use such a modern curriculum.

There is variance in accessing education and results for minority ethnic communities

more than Georgians. The government should take a measure of reducing inequality amongst

minority groups. It should adopt legislation that gives minority students the right to equality and

develop initiatives to protect minority population culture. For instance, important bureaucratic

processes, part of the certification of teachers' examination, should be available in Georgia,

exacerbating inequality on ethnicity basis or background linguistics.

Another way of improving education in public schools in Georgia is prioritizing funding

of schools. Most of the problems facing public schools are inequality of funding in schools,

therefore, prioritizing financing of schools equally. The issue is not just stuff of cash-strapped

federal or state governments struggle to raise revenue, and it is a priorities issue. One of the

priorities should be; implementing a progressive tax code. The government should tax wealthy

corporations and citizens’ governments to afford a system of public education. There is also a

need for political will for implementing such changes (Sohrabi 2020). There is a need for the
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government to increase teacher support and funding. There should be a focus on financing new

schools building and improving old buildings and growing to finance for teachers, specifically in

areas of low incomes. This is because most teachers prefer working in affluent places due to the

potentials of better payments of work conditions, teaching quality in poor schools would suffer.

Suppose school officials and policymakers coordinate together in attracting and retaining

teachers in such schools. In that case, students affected by SES with great educational

requirements will benefit due to improved quality of teaching.

To improve the quality of education in public schools, there is a need to build community

schools for all students. If the focus of the schools is to measure success solely by the

achievement of students, students who bring down average would be likely to be forced out

irrespective of their social class or race, instead of developing the curriculum and priorities of

classes but focusing on students' success individually (Kyllonen & Patrick 2018). Additionally,

there is a need to raise teachers' standards; research shows that not all underqualified educators

would be tied to poor results for students. One specific area in which policymakers have an

influence. They should clarify teachers' standards who seek a license and raise standards in

places where students' results are low.

For equality also in all schools, there is a need to stop expanding private schools and

charter because it is not for all classes of students and would lead to segregation (Sohrabi 2020).

There is also a need to decrease class differences amongst students by doing away with property

taxes as major funding sources. This a critical driver of equality in education since lower-income

students would receive less by default. Therefore, the state government must create initiatives

that are significant and budgeting for equal funding. Another way to improve equality in
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education is deprioritizing funding based on tests as it discriminates against disadvantaged

students.

Additionally, there is a need to support educators financially, for instance, offering high

benefits and salaries to improve their retention rates. There is also a need to invest more

resources in supporting underfunded, low-income schools like increasing special education

counselors and specialists. It is also dismantling the pipeline of schools to prison for students by

adaptation of few funding of cops in schools and restoration of justice efforts. This would create

more funding for educational justice initiatives and bring to an end minority of students' over-

policing. Broadly, to support efforts to dismantle capitalism's influence in the social sectors and

support an economy that taxes wealthy at high rates would allow enough support and financing

of public sectors such as public education and support of low-income households.

Another way of improving Georgia's equality is to put classroom and decisions for

building curriculum in community hands. Policymakers should be conversant with this pattern

should push for a control that is a standardized and community-based mechanism, like a board

elected based on the community, which has authority and power to make decisions on how their

students are taught (Kyllonen & Patrick 2018). Involve parents in the education of their children

where possible would also contribute to the achievement of students.

Conclusion

Social-economic status is a concept that summarizes a person's social position in society.

Several conceptualizations of SES are used, such as occupation, a materialistic measure of

income, class differences, and gradient measure of relative status. Minority and poor students are

mostly concentrated in the least funded schools, where most of them are in rural areas and
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funded at levels below neighbor suburban districts. Due to inequality, some schools face

inequality in some parts of Georgia. For instance, Poor quality of education for low-income

citizens' students is contributed by the imbalance of the educational system in Georgia. Other

problems are smaller classrooms and a critical problem faced in schools is that minority schools,

due to shortage of funds, are unable to compete for qualified teachers. To improve the quality of

education equally in the state can be implemented through the following. First is funding all

schools similarly irrespective of the citizens; additionally, equality also in all schools. There is a

need to stop expanding private schools and charter because it is not for all classes of students and

would lead to segregation amongst other factors.

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Work Cited

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endogeneity and heterogeneity." Applied Economics 50.25 (2018): 2747-2761.

https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00036846.2017.1406659

Cristea, Gabriela. "Inequality in education. Dimensions and solutions." LOGOS,

UNIVERSALITY, MENTALITY, EDUCATION, NOVELTY. Section Social Sciences 8.1 (2019):

37-48. https://www.ceeol.com/search/article-detail?id=776365

Cruces, Guillermo, C. García Domench, and Leonardo Gasparini. "Inequality in education:

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solving." Journal of Intelligence 6.3 (2018): 33. https://www.mdpi.com/2079-3200/6/3/33

Posadas, Josefina, et al. Georgia at work: assessing the jobs landscape. World Bank, 2018.

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Posick, Chad, et al. "Child victim services in the time of COVID-19: new challenges and

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